Jewish Reconstructionist Federation

Welcome to the Department of Congregational Consulting and Resources. Our mission is to provide programs, consultation and resources rooted in a Reconstructionist, Jewish values-based approach for member communities of JRF, and to help our member communities share resources and build relationships with each other.

The Congregational relations team, under the leadership of Rabbi Nancy Epstein, is also pleased to offer:

• Board training or in-person visits around particular issues
• Consulting with Presidents, Rabbis, staff and lay leaders
• Gathering information from other JRF affiliates and distributing it to you
• Leadership Workshops, Resource books and Curricula see http://63.115.67.94/cong/resources.html
• PEARL tele-conference learning sessions for congregational leaders at http://jrf.org/PEARL
• Providing community development and programming ideas
• On-line audio resources and cassettes on a variety of issues at http://jrf.org/heart-mind-spirit
• E-mail discussion groups that give JRF affiliates a way to discuss common issues and share innovative solutions at http://jrf.org/listserves
• Fundraising and Planned Giving support through our Development Department at http://jrf.org/development
• Regional support for congregations (e.g. Regional councils, Shabbatonim)

For a full listing of available resources, please visit
http://63.115.67.94/cong/congmain.html and http://jrf.org/resources-library

Mark your calenders! JRF joins the UJ Federation of NY in designating the Shabbat of Inclusion, a weekend designed to encourage the participation of our members with disabilities, for February 1-3. We encourage the various leaders of the affiliated Reconstructionist congregations in the NY/NJ region to begin planning for this event at their respective synagogues.

This particular Shabbat coincides with Parshat Mishpatim, which discusses the giving of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai. The language of the text certainly resounds in our mission to create an accessible Shabbat service: "For you were strangers in the land of Egypt." Often, people with physical and developmental disabilities are aliented like "strangers" from our congregations. Our Shabbat of Inclusion aims to eliminate this notion of exclusion for all of our disabled congregants and their families.

Most of all, Reconstructionists have been on the forefront of creating inclusive communities. Even so, we can benefit from reminders to keep our doors wide open and to find new ways to be welcoming.

For leaders, please share with us what you do for this important Shabbat....for members, please come to pray, to learn, and to show your support.

Today, increasing numbers of synagogues are engaging in interfaith campaigns on vital issues of local concern, from expanding health coverage for low income workers to building affordable housing.

Since 2006, The Jewish Reconstructionist Federation has been partnering with the Jewish Funds for Justice (JFSJ) helping to develop a network and resources for Reconstructionist communities in Congregation-Based Community Organizing (CBCO) work. As well, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College began offering training in the model of CBCO activism in the winter of 2007.

More information on community organizing can be found in the summer 2007 edition of Reconstructionism Today and in the January 2007 issue of Shma, and from the Jewish Funds for Justice.

When: Sunday, May 18
Where: Bet Am Shalom Synagogue, 295 Soundview Avenue, White Plains, New York

Cantor Benjie SchillerCantor Benjie Ellen Schiller, cantor of Bet Am Shalom synagogue in White Plains, NY, will give a rare recital performance on Sunday, May 18.

The program, “Life Song Cycle - A musical reflection on the journey of our lives,” will include her own compositions and works of other Jewish composers. A dessert reception will follow the concert. Admission is $36 for adults and $18 for students and children under eighteen.

Brant RosenKol hakavod to Rabbi Brant Rosen, rabbi of the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation in Evanston, IL, for being recognized in Newsweek magazine as one of the Top Pulpit Rabbis in America.

With Rosen's leadership, JRC is gaining notoriety as "America's greenest shul" for meeting the highest standards in green building practices in its recent renovation.

Newsweek's criteria were rabbis' inspirational abilities; leadership within the congregation, denomination and the community; and skills in meeting the spiritual and personal needs of congregants.

When: Saturday night, April 5th, 8:00 p.m.
Where: Oseh Shalom Congregation, Laurel, MD.

Craig TaubmanCraig Taubman, a renowned singer and songwriter, will be giving a concert at Oseh Shalom dedicated to Tikkun Olam! This concert is being sponsored by Oseh Shalom Congregation including the Music & Arts Fund, the Social Action Committee, the Mens' Club and the Sisterhood; and Chesapeake Region JRF, Adat Shalom and Beit Tikvah. This concert is appropriate for adults, teens and families.

Download the attached event flyer and help spread the word!

Temple Beth Hatfiloh in Olympia is scheduled to finish its remodeling project this month. The 7,000-square-foot addition on the left houses offices, meeting space and classrooms to better serve members of the congregation. (Steven M. Herppich/The Olympian)by Lisa Pemberton

This article originally appeared in The Olympian and is reprinted with permission.

Members of Temple Beth Hatfiloh in Olympia have envisioned a new synagogue for about 15 years.

"At one time, the (new building) committee was called TBH 2000," said Beth Halpern of Olympia. "When we first started, it seemed realistic."

The dream soon will come to fruition as workers put the final touches on the 18,000-square-foot temple at Eighth Avenue and Washington Street, formerly the home of a Christian Science church.

Rabbi Kevin Hale laying out the Megillat Esther scroll

An Unusual Megillah
By Marissa Brostoff

This article originally appeared in The Forward and is reprinted with permission.

The Scroll of Esther is getting a makeover from several kids in Pennsylvania, a Reconstructionist scribe and a computer graphics program.

Congregation Or Hadash, a small Reconstructionist synagogue located in the Philadelphia suburb of Fort Washington, has commissioned a sofer to create a megillah that incorporates drawings by students in its religious school.

These are the hands of Mishkan Ha'am.

This 4' x 6' banner is made up of over 150 felt tracings from the many children and adults who have joined in Mishkan Ha'am's services and celebrations since the shul's founding.

Ten years ago, Yonkers, New York, residents Joey Parnes and Ellen Tattelman ran a notice in local newspapers inviting area residents who were “looking for a synagogue and haven’t found the right fit” to meet. “We were looking to create a Reconstructionist group that would be egalitarian, participatory, and open to varying viewpoints,” says Parnes. “Joyously, we found others who were looking for the same thing!”

Today, Mishkan Ha’am, with members from Riverdale through Westchester’s Rivertowns, has grown to include regular Shabbat services for all ages, holiday and life cycle celebrations, a Hebrew School, adult education program, social action activities, and innovative programming such as meditation and chanting-centered Shabbat observances and Shabbat morning yoga sessions. In all these contexts, participants engage in connecting Jewish tradition with their contemporary lives.

Rabbi Alan Lew, a leader in the budding Jewish meditation movement, will be visiting Ann Arbor from April 4-6, 2008. All are invited to partake in this weekend of pre-Passover spiritual preparation. The weekend will include several talks, text study, and experiential components to take place at several Jewish venues around Ann Arbor, MI.Alan Lew 2/08

Erev Shabbat will begin with a Shabbat Dinner at 6 pm, followed by Shabbat Services including a sermon by Rabbi Lew. On Shabbat morning services will be based on a traditional model but will include considerably less text, and considerably more chanting and silence. Saturday afternoon themes of discussion will be “The Four Cups of Freedom; Four Aspects of Spiritual Liberation,” and “Leave-Taking; The Biblical Pre-Requisite to Spiritual Liberation.” The afternoon program will conclude at Beth Israel Congregation with a seudah sh’lisheet (third meal).

Sunday morning will be devoted to a meditation workshop based on his most recent book, Be Still And Get Going. "It will be an examination of Yetziat Mitzraim (the Exodus from Egypt)," says Lew, "the seminal moment of Biblical leave-taking, and the extraordinary Five-Step program for transformation that we find there."